WATCH: Kohli gestures fans to applaud Smith, not boo him

Steven Smith was greeted with boos while protecting the boundary rope during India's innings. However, Kohli walked towards that stand in between the overs and gestured the fans to clap for Smith and not boo him.

Making their comeback to the Australian squad after serving a year ban for their role in the ball-tampering scandal, Aussie star batsmen Steve Smith and David Warner have not been receiving the best possible welcome as they quite often get booed by the crowd during the World Cup games in UK. One similar incident happened when Smith was greeted with boos while protecting the boundary rope during India's innings. However, taking a note of the incident, India skipper Kohli decided to take a firm stand as he walked towards that stand in between the overs and gestured the fans to clap for Smith and not boo him.

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— Maqbool (@im_maqbool) June 9, 2019

The batting duo made a return into the Australia squad after serving bans for their involvement in ball-tampering scandal in a Test match against South Africa in Cape Town last year. Following their stint in the Indian Premier League (IPL), Smith and Warner joined the Australian national team camp in the UK for the 2019 ICC Men's Cricket World Cup. Reacting to such harsh reception from crowd, Smith said as long as he has got the support of his teammates, he doesn't get bothered by the reaction of the crowd. "It doesn't bother me. It's just doing my job and I know that I've got the support of my teammates up on the balcony and that's the most important thing," said Smith. "If I can make them proud out in the middle and make Australians proud as much as I can - well that's my job. "Fortunately today I was able to score a few runs for the team and more importantly spend some time in the middle before our first game of the World Cup," he added.